Cracked Wheat Porridge with Almonds and Apricots (Dalia) [Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking]

The vegetarian Indian cookbook seems to lean heavily towards northern Indian dishes, including this bulgur breakfast porridge from along the Pakistani border. This recipe is definitely a lesson in making sure things don't burn - get ready for a lot of stirring!

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons sweet butter (this isn't clearly explained in the cookbook, but it's meant to be normal butter, as opposed to salted butter or ghee)
• 1 cup bulgur wheat 
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, cut small
• 3 tbsp jaggery or honey
• 1/2 cup blanched sliced almonds, toasted (dry toast them in a pan)
• scalded milk and jaggery/honey on the side

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the bulgur and fry in the butter over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes until browned. The recipe says "stir often", and they do mean often, since after the 5 minute mark there's a good chance the wheat will burn if you let it sit too long.

2. Add the water, 2 cups of the milk, and the apricots - bring to a boil. Lower head and simmer for 15 minutes uncovered, stirring often. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let sit for 10 minutes.

3. Add in the rest of the milk, the honey/jaggery, and mix well over low heat to warm it back up. Top with the nuts and serve with extra milk and sweetener on the side.

The Outcome:

This is a mildly sweet, milky porridge. It's pretty good - toasting both the almonds and browning the bulgur means that it has a nice nutty taste. You lose a lot of the apricot flavour from the boiling, however - if I made this again, I'd probably add in the apricots later. I'm not entirely sure about the texture, adding in the extra milk makes it very soupy and since this dish is new to me, I'm not sure if it's meant to be like this - it really didn't need any extra milk added to it. I do want to rustle up some jaggery and see if that changes the flavour compared to honey. Maple syrup would also work really well as a topping for this.

Cauliflower, Eggplant, and Potato in Herb Sauce (Sabzi Korma) [Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking]

First up from the Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking is sabzi korma, a northern Indian dish with the cumbersome English name "Cauliflower, Eggplant, and Potato in Herb Sauce". I like the big spread of spices involved - that's a good sign in my books. The use of almonds is new to me, but I like where this idea is going.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp light vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups minced onion (pretty much one medium-large onion exactly)
• 2 tsp minced garlic (about 1 or 2 cloves)
• 2 tbsp grated or crushed fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup ground blanched almonds
• 1 tbsp ground coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel (I could only find whole fennel, so I ground my own)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 cup canned tomato paste
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cauliflower, about 2 lbs, cut into 1.5 inch florets
• 1 small eggplant, about 1/2 lb, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
• 2 medium potatoes, about 1/2 lb, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds or garam masala
• 2 tsp coarse salt or to taste (oddly, the salt doesn't come up in the recipe)
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until brown)

Following the cookbook exactly:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the onion and fry, stirring, until browned (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cilantro and almonds, and cook for 2 more minutes.

2. Add the coriander seed, fennel, cayenne, and turmeric and "let sizzle for a few seconds." Add the tomato and paprika, drop the heat to low, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add the water, cauliflower, eggplant, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat, stir in the garam masala / cumin (and apparently the salt, since the salt isn't mentioned in this recipe?)  Let stand, covered, for 30 minutes to let the flavours blend. Top with the sesame seeds.

The Outcome:

This is pretty good! It's different from a lot of korma I've had before - it's not as heavily spiced as I was expecting, but the flavours blend really nicely - especially the fennel with the toastiness of the browned onion/sesame seeds/almonds. I'm not sure if the spices have been toned down a bit for the Western market or if it's meant be more delicately flavoured, though it's not bland. There were only two points that weren't entirely clear - what to do with the salt, and what temperature to eat it at - since after 30 minutes of sitting on the stove it's lukewarm at best.

Fillet of Pork with Banana [Cooking For One]

Let's finish off the very weird Cooking For One with a really messed up recipe. This is the first recipe I've had to modify for my own personal safety. This condenses all the weirdness of this cookbook into one recipe: weird flavour combos, excessive microwave use (to cook meat even!), and somehow despite it all tasting bland.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 tsp butter
• 5 oz (142g) fillet of pork
• 1/2 small banana
• salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 apple
• 2 tsp peanut butter
• 1-2 tbsp creme fraiche
• 1 tsp flaked almonds

Following the recipe exactly:

Say no more, say no more!

1. Put the onion and butter in a microwaveable dish and microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes (all microwave settings are on HIGH here). Cut a pocket in the pork and insert the banana (oo er!).

2. Season the pork and place in the microwaveable dish and spoon some of the onion on top. Peel and slice the apple and cover the pork with apple slices. Cover and microwave for five minutes.

3. In a bowl, mix the peanut butter and creme fresh and spread it over the pork. Top with the almonds and microwave uncovered for 3-4 minutes.

Mmmm trichinosis

4.  The recipe ends here, but you will now notice that the pork is still raw inside. I had to nuke the pork for an extra 4 minutes to cook it all the way through. I figure personal safety is work breaking my "no changes" rule.

The Outcome:

Just no.

This is really fucking terrible. I don't even know where to start. First, following the recipe exactly doesn't cook the meat all the way through. Secondly, it's gross - while banana and peanut butter or pork and apples go together, there's too much going on here, so it's a big sloppy grey mess. However, at the same time, it's also bland - the meat is tough and tasteless, as are the onions. The only redeeming quality is that it's now been a few hours and I don't think I have food poisoning.

Toasted Nut Orzo [The Achewood Cookbook]

I'm starting to get a bit leery about the Achewood Cookbook, but at first sight, this recipe looks a bit more sophisticated than the others (it also looks like it's covered in a big stain from the time I spilled something on this cookbook). It starts with an in-character harangue about the quality of olive oil, but the recipe itself looks pretty straightforward and decent.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

•  1/2 lb orzo
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 3/4 cup equal parts sliced almonds and crumbled pecans
•  4 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. Boil up a pot of water for the orzo. While it comes to a boil, place the nuts and green onions in a dry pan on medium-high heat. Let them sit until they start warming through, then flip them every minute until they're fragrant and browned, but not blackened.

Toasty, fragrant, and roughly chopped. Insert joke about "just like my men" here.

2. Remove the onions and nuts and chop roughly.

3. Salt the water and cook the orzo according to the package. When the orzo is cooked, drain and return to the pot.

1/3 cup olive oil is a LOT of olive oil

4. Stir in the nuts and onion mix. Pour in "a couple glugs" of olive oil - the cookbook says at least 1/3 of a cup. Stir the oil in, add the cheese, and stir further. Serve on heated plates.

The Outcome:

I had low hopes after some of the other dishes in this cookbook, but this is pretty good! The nuts add texture and a subtle flavour that goes with the sharp feta. The only catch is that with this much olive oil it gets a bit cloying by the end of it, but it's definitely a nice meal and definitely the best recipe from this cookbook so far.